On this day: October 4

Work begins on Mount Rushmore, Sputnik is launched into space, the pope visits America for the first time, Janis Joplin is found dead of an overdose, all on this day.

21 / 44

Shout! Factory Image

1957: The sitcom "Leave it to Beaver," starring Jerry Mathers as the title character, Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver, premieres on television. The show, which also starred Barbara Billingsley and Hugh Beaumont as Beaver's parents, June and Ward Cleaver, and Tony Dow as Beaver's brother Wally, would run for six seasons and eventually attain iconic status.